On March 16, 2021 public statements suggested that it would take several weeks for community pharmacists to be ready to administer COVID vaccines once government has confirmed they will be part of the roll-out program. It was also suggested that the government and public health were not engaged in discussions with community pharmacists.
The BC Pharmacy Association (BCPhA) wants to assure British Columbians that pharmacists across the province are ready to participate in this most important vaccination program. We are in ongoing discussions with the government about how community pharmacies can add important capacity to the roll-out.
British Columbians should be assured that, as was the case with the flu vaccination campaign, that pharmacies can be up and running quickly. Depending on how the use of pharmacies is initiated, our members can be ready in days, not months, to provide critical vaccinations to their patients.
We appreciate that Minister Dix has stated his support for the role pharmacists played in this year’s flu campaign in which more than a million vaccines were administered in a very short period of time. We are pleased that today he restated his commitment that pharmacists will have a major role to play in the COVID vaccine campaign.
Community pharmacists are ready to get to work and appreciate the opportunity to continue to be involved in discussions about B.C.’s COVID vaccine campaign. All pharmacists encourage their patients to get vaccinated and help protect themselves and their community.